Customer Reviews

The Cat Who Moved a Mountain

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3 star:		(1)
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Hardcore mystery fans may find it a bit of a stretch, but if your taste runs to expertly written and very light fiction, you can't do better than Lillian Jackson Braun's "The Cat Who..." series. Her detective, reporter James Qwilleran, investigates crimes with the aid of his Siamese cats--and the solutions to the crime inevitably rest more upon intution than actual deduction. While the premise sounds farfetched, Braun's work is actually less fanciful than you might expect, and she presents her eccentric characters and stories with great charm.

THE CAT WHO MOVED A MOUNTAIN finds Qwill longing for a vacation from his beloved Moose County--and at the urging of friends he elects to spend a season in the Potato Mountains. But as usual, Qwill cannot leave well enough alone: once settled in his moutain-top retreat, he finds himself drawn into a battle between developers determined to turn the Potatos into upscale retreats for the wealthy and locals equally determined to hold them at bay... and the ever-astute Koko is behaving strangely. Could an old--and some believe still unsolved--murder be the cause?

Braun frequently references ecological concerns in her work, and like THE CAT THAT CAME TO BREAKFAST, this particular title gives her plenty of opportunity to slyly satirize greed and lousy land-management. THE CAT WHO MOVED A MOUNTAIN is a particularly charming entry in "The Cat Who..." series, and both old fans and newcomers should enjoy it tremendously.

In an earlier book in this series Jim Qwilleran inherited a pot full of money but there was a stipulation. He had to live in Moose County for five years or he forfeited his windfall. As this book begins, Qwilleran has just completed his five years and is contemplating his future. He has come to love Moose County and it's quirky residents but he was born and raised a city boy and sometimes he longs for more action. The former reporter decides that he needs some time in a quiet atmosphere to think through his options and one of his friends suggests that he spend some time in the Potato Mountains.

In order to find a summer retreat that will accept pets, Qwilleran has to rent a huge former mountain inn that sets on the peak of Big Potato Mountain. It turns out that the last owner of the home was murdered and as normal, Koko immediately begins to exhibit strange behavior. Yum Yum on the other hand starts to tear out bits of her own fur, a behavior that has Qwilleran very upset until the veterinarian tells him that this is not unusual in a spayed female. It is a trait that I have witnessed in my own spayed female cat and this little sidebar makes it very clear that Mrs. Braun most assuredly knows her cats.

Qwilleran for his part has all kinds of trouble in the unfamiliar mountain setting. He has learned some things about rural life during his sojourn in Moose County but the mountains provide an entirely different set of challenges. He gets lost on the mountain roads, almost falls over a waterfall, gets lost while hiking in the woods and gets trapped on the mountain after a dam break. What's a poor city slicker to do?

Despite all of his trials, Qwilleran still manages to get involved in local politics. More specifically he gets involved in a fight between the Spuds (people who live in town and support development) and the Taters (mountain people who oppose development) and he finds that a serious injustice has been done to one of the Tater families. With the help of Koko, Qwilleran wades through the evidence (and a mudslide) and discovers the truth, which once again puts his life in danger and requires a cat to save the day.

The mystery itself, as is often the case in this series, plays a decidedly secondary role in a plot that is laced with humor and oddball characters, including an old mountain man who builds Qwilleran a gazebo that has no door. This book is also a warm fuzzy mystery with a conscience as Mrs. Braun goes to great lengths to point out what happens when humans try to bend mother nature to their own ends. As usual, the writing style is engaging, fun and entertaining. This author's characters are always unpredictable and unforgettable and the cats are fascinating. Mrs. Braun even throws a few witches into this book, just to keep things interesting. This is one of the best books in the series so far and it was a real pleasure to read.

If you love cats and the mountains, you will love this episode in, "The Cat Who..." books.

Qwill has lived in Pickax County the required five years to make his inheritance official. He doesn't know what to do next. Does he want to move? Does he want to take a job or start a business? He knows he has a lot of thinking to do so he decides to take a journey. He decides he wants to spend the summer on top of a mountain. So he and the cats rent a mountain house for three months.

While on the mountain he learns of a murder exactly one year before. He and Koko solve the murder and make new friends along the way.

I loved this book! You will too!

This is the 13th CAT WHO mystery. It is the one that introduced me to the series, when I purchased the audio version. I liked it so much I went to the first book (The Cat Who Could Read Backwards) and started reading them in order. When I had read the first 12, and got to this one again, I bought and read the book even though I'd already heard the audio - I didn't want to miss anything and I wanted a complete book collection. As far as this specific book, one thing I like about it is its look at prejudice among different groups of people, in this case the poorer mountain people (Taters) and the more affluent people who in the area. In this case one of the Taters is framed for murder, and when Qwill and his cats come on the scene a year later, he searches for the truth.

I just finished with a book called the Cat Who Moved a Mountain and it just swept me off my feet. It involves the lovable Yum Yum, the Siamese cat who lives to be loved and loves exreporter Jim Qwilleren. Qwilleren is an exreporter who used to work in the crime department of a newspaper and hasn't lost his love for crime. He has the right head for it, or shall I say moustache, That's right, I said moustache. When ever Qwill is on the right trail, he gets a tingling sensation in his moustache, but he wouldn't get his clues if it weren't for the brilliant acts of Ko Ko, an odd Siamese cat that always tracks down the clues and leaves Qwill to add them up.

I've already read 5 or 6 of Lillian Jackson Braun's other "Cat Who", books before, and have a taste and craving for them that can't be put out, because Lillian writes with such a colorful array of words, that once you get done you can't tell if you read a book or watched a movie due to all the wonderful, beautiful, and vivid pictures she paints with words. Just like the others she's written she hasn't failed to stump me with her false leads and clue's. Luckily for the characters of the book, Qwill isn't fooled as easily as I was by all the misleading clues Lillian leaves for us, because if he was, then a man would have been locked up for life for a crime he didn't commit. I also liked it because of the plot. It was wonderfully and quite attracting to anyone with an eye for murder, false clues, and a set up to frame someone else and that's just what I like. Another thing that attracts me to book after book written by Lillian is that it leaves you wanting more, Once the book ends, I wished it hadn't ended, luckily for me it's a series with 20 or more books so I still have a lot to read. Over all on a scale of 1 to 20 Id have to give it a 100 because its just that good and Id recommend it to anyone who likes murder, mystery, and misleads, but beware readers, once you read one you might find yourself, like me, addicted.

I discovered the "cat books" at a used paperback store where I was searching for back issues of Mary Higgins Clark's books for my grandaughter. The proprietor told me that I should try one of the cat books. At first, the book's size and title turned me off -- I thought it was more of a child's book. Was I EVER wrong! I was capitivated from the first sentence to the last sentence. The characters are warm and believable and the plot was intricate enough to hold my interest. I went back to the used book store and bought the 8 others. Now I'm fixed for summer reading. MORAL: Don't judge a book by its thickness or title.

I've read all the Cat Who books, and next to the Cat Who went Underground, this is the best. The book is full of humor..as incident after incident happens to Qwill when he goes on "vacation" from Pickaxe.

Jim Qwilleran, former crime reporter, has just inherited the vast Klingenschoen fortune. He had been required to live in Moose County for 5 years to satisfy the stipulations of the will and now he was ready for an adventure. Lately he had been having a strange yearning to see mountains so he loaded up his Siamese cats to set out for the Potato Mountains intending to spend the summer. Soon after his arrival Qwill found himself involved in local politics, an old murder and family scandals. After a series of adventures and mishaps Qwill and the cats reveal the true culprits and realize just where they really want to be.

For fans of this long running series the lack of Moose County action can be a bit frustrating but it is more than off set by the whole new community of the Potato Mountains. The scenes of Qwill traveling with cats is hilarious and all too familiar to anyone who has tried to travel with pets. As always with this series the depictions of small town life are totally realistic.
The bits of Moose County life we do get are significant and hint of action to come in later books.

This is one of the best of the series, it will appeal to any fan of the 'cozy' mystery genre not just to fans of this particular series.

The Cat Who Moved a Mountain was my first meeting with Qwill and his savvy cats. This flowed extremely well and left me meowing for more of the delightful characters. Lilian Jackson Braun uses a broad vocabulary that would not be intimidating to any reader, yet it keeps the reading interesting for those of us that love neat words. Braun does not include gory details and she does not include "adult situations" either. This discretion makes this book as well as the others in her series suitable for all ages. The Cat Who Moved A Mountain followed a very contemporary plot and held my attention to the very last page. The characters were rich and warm, and they all were written with a hint of ulterior motive. I strongly recommend this book--even if you are not a cat lover, you will appreciate the light, airy movement of this mystery and you'll be rushing to Amazon to order a few more in the series

The Cat Who is the best serries ever full of humor wit and complexity,

James Macentosh Qwilerin is a off beat repoter/Billion air with his 2 cats Koko and Yumyum who are no shorter than extra ordinary.

This is the best book serries I have ever read and would recomend it to any one over 10.

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